Coeur d' Alene said:
Next years team will have
6 returning starters (Hendricks, banks, 2 hunters, TJ, and trace young)
4 returning double figure scorers (ht/hm/jh/ty)
2 senior returning starter senior guards
Yeah I get the argument of everyone has young guys that will improve but next years sophomore class is loaded.
Trace Young, Thompson, and Maldonado have all Conference potential and TJ Taylor and Brandon Porter have rotation player on conference champion potential.
If you could put a big time guard and big and coach with that group it's something big
The main question that needs to be answered here is, how many times did you hit your head before you wrote these posts?
I accurately predicted that this season would be a struggle due to all of the new players. Just for your info, Queta that has beaten Thompson badly the two times that they have faced each other this year is a true freshman. The PF at UNLV that went off on us that Thompson or anyone couldn't stop was also a true freshman. How is our redshirt freshman all of a sudden going to become a defender and rebounder and out play those two guys?
Thompson MIGHT be an All-MWC player by his junior to senior year if he works really hard, but right now he is one of the worst defender down low that I have seen all year amongst the bigs. The real problem is that Thompson really isn't a big, despite his height. He is slow, positions himself poorly due to poor footwork. The bottom line Thompson needs a LOT OF WORK. Banks is a horrible shooter, he handles the ball okay, is a decent defender but he is far, far from being a superior player. I like Trace Young and TJ Taylor a lot and have a feeling that they will develop into nice players.
Right now we have the worst, no doubt about it, the worst team for paint defense and offense in the MWC! Adding one JC or HS kid is not going to solve that issue. They need at least two, three would be better bigs. Hendricks is a nice player, but he has trouble if they defend him out on the 3 point line, he is unable to make his own offense, and if you haven't noticed Hendricks about disappeared when Nevada actually went out and defended him, he could do nothing. Brandon Porter is a project period! He needed a redshirt year badly, but was unable to get it. He is nothing but a lost player who is also a fouling machine, hopefully he can be redshirted this coming year.
Now for the big thing, who will replace our leading rebounder and scorer next season? Maldonado? The real answer no one, that load will have to be spread over the team. Maldonado can help with some of the scoring, but rebounding? Wyoming is a lousy, and I do mean lousy rebounding team and it has been like that for years now, that is not a one time thing, but a concerted coaching decision to let the offensive boards go. Just look at the stats for years now, and this is all of a sudden going to change? We are losing Naughton and Thompson is anything but a rebounder. We are going to be at the bottom end of the conference in rebounding (again) next season!
You are crazy if you think just because our guys are young that they will magically improve enough next year to be a special team. There are far superior young players in more than several teams in the MWC, and are you expecting that they won't improve? Hardly! Next season is looking like another long season, I was correct about this one, and unless something changes dramatically, next year will be more of the same. Shoddy defense, questionable ball handling, streaking shooting and horrible rebounding. That IS the reality of this program under Edwards right now. My main issue is that I am not really seeing the improvement in the players over the last almost 3 years that one should expect. The coaching up of the post position is nothing short of horrible, and is that all of a sudden going to change? Hardly.
The saddest thing right now, is that we are as healthy as we have been all season, and this team came out with no energy against Nevada. With Maldonado the Pokes would have still lost by 20 to Nevada. The real issue is Edwards and his staff, the way that they have built this team, the lack of cohesive play, the philosophy of not deciding that rebounding is important enough to make it happen, and his recruiting which de-emphasizes the post. Until some major changes are either made by getting rid of this staff or the staff changes their philosophy big time, things are not going to get this program into the upper half of the MWC.
